


How Do You Feel? 'Cause I feel Fine.

by broadrippleisburning



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broadrippleisburning/pseuds/broadrippleisburning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After they defeat Kronos monster activity dies down, giving demigods a chance to move on with their lives. Nico decides to join a band.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Do You Feel? 'Cause I feel Fine.

**Author's Note:**

> It was late and I was listening to Coma Cinema and decided hey what if Nico was in a band and their songs were Coma Cinema songs, and then this happened.

After the Battle of Manhattan and the defeat of Kronos monster activity had decreased enormously, allowing most of the Camp Half-Blood campers to venture out into the world; getting jobs, going to school, building lives for themselves. There had still been campers who stayed behind, training to become fighters, and, of course, the people who just chose to stay at camp because they liked it there. Of course they still had satyrs recruiting, but the kids had more of a choice now. It wasn't as life and death as it had been before.

Nico was not one of them, he didn't belong at there camp anyway. He had spent a small amount of time in the Underworld, but it was evident enough that he wasn't wanted there either. Nico had enrolled in school, he even went for a while, but soon enough he had gotten bored and moved onto greater things. He had worked at a bookshop for a short time, traveled the world for a few years, visiting all the places he had never had the chance to see in person before, and, when your father is the god of wealth, money isn't really an issue.

Around his eighteenth birthday (he was  _guessing_ he was around eighteen, excluding the years he had spent in the Lotus Hotel) he found himself back in Manhattan, for the first time since the battle. He had met a few guys in a downtown record shop and had somehow been roped into joining them for their band practice, filling in for their lead singer who had recently gone off to college. He had surprised everyone, including himself, with his singing abilities, and soon enough he had moved into the bassist's cramped apartment, becoming a permanent fixture in their band.

Soon after Nico had joined, the band decided to release an EP. They had been getting a fair amount of positive feedback from the local bars they frequently played in, and decided maybe other people would enjoy their music as well. The reception for the EP had been amazing, so good they managed to save up enough money to release a full length album, soon after the band's popularity really took off. They were actually well known, not in a Much Music sense, but in a _popular-for-an-underground-Indie-band_ sense, anyway, they were popular enough to warrant a tour across North America, including short stop in Canada.

As Nico set out as the front man of the moderately popular  _Pluto's Moons_ (The naming of which Nico, incidentally, had no part in.) he finally felt like he was somewhere he belonged.

About a week into the tour they ended up in a small bar in New York City, it was near a college and, as expected, almost every single person in the bar were students from the college. Nico even noticed a few girls near the stage wearing homemade tee shirts for the band. He waved shyly at them while he was setting up, they giggled and blushed, one even winked at him before he disappeared backstage, getting ready for the show with the rest of the band.

They were the opening band for some Synthpop band so they only had a short time to play, so once they were ushered onto the stage, Nico stopping to greet the crowd first, they jumped right into their first song. A couple people in the crowd even sang along with enthusiasm. Soon enough their performance was drawing to a close, they were about to start their next song, one Nico personally had a love/hate relationship with, when he decided to address the crowd once again.

“You guys have been lovely tonight, thank you all for showing up and being so enthusiastic, it's amazing, we love you. Sadly this next song will be out last, it's actually one of the few songs I wrote personally, and well, it's just that, personal, so yeah. We're  _Pluto's Moons_ and this is  _Wrecked,_ ” Nico smiled at the crowd, who cheered them into their next song. 

_I have accepted I will not survive my -_  
Heart, I am wrecked, I am ready to die  
  
Being alive makes me feel like a whore  
And it's nice, it's alright, I am already bored  
  
Drown in a river, crash in a plane  
You will turn into water, you will turn into flame  
  
Nothing I want, no one I wanna be  
Everyone that I love is in hell here with me

Nico finished the song, thanking the crowd once again and stepping back to drink from his water bottle while his band mates introduced themselves, before telling the crowd they would be at the merch table for the rest of the night. Nico was leaning against the wall of the stage when he noticed the boy staring at him, he had noticed the boy before, his sea green eyes eerily familiar, it wasn't until now that Nico figured out who those eyes belonged to.

 

 

 

Percy had been planning on a quiet night in, maybe catch up on his schoolwork, demigod life had  _definitely_ not prepared him for college life, he thought there would be more partying, less essays, but alas, here he was on a Friday night, sitting in a nest of blankets, his laptop open and blank in front of him. He didn't think there would ever be anything to make him  _miss_ running for his life a daily basis, but college proved to be just the thing. He was getting ready to work on his essay, he had promised himself he would finish it tonight, no distractions. That is until his roommate had shown up, taking pity on him and his blank computer screen, and asking him if he wanted to tag along to some concert he was going to with his friends that night. Percy accepted with barely a second thought.

The opening band was pretty good, and there was something familiar about their lead singer, but Percy just couldn't put his finger on it, the black skinny jeans, ripped and torn, and the black tee shirt could really belong in the wardrobe of any hipster boy in all of New York, so that wasn't any help, and the boy's undercut hairstyle was no indicator either, but there was something in his face. It wasn't until he was introducing their last song when Percy figured it out. They had arrived halfway through one of the songs and he hadn't had the chance to hear the boy talk normally, but once he did it was glaringly obvious who he was. How Percy hadn't recognized him straight away, he had no idea, he usually had pretty good demigod sensing skills too, apparently he was just off tonight.

Percy hadn't seen Nico Di Angelo since the end of the whole ordeal with Kronos, he had just assumed the kid had gone back to live in the Underworld. Nico had never seemed that comfortable with other people, preferring the company of the dead over the living.

Percy had been visiting camp whenever he could, though he was quite busy with school right now, he still liked to keep his sword skills sharp, in case he ever needed them, to fight monsters, or college tuition, whichever posed more of a threat. Percy's mind was starting to wander back to his essay waiting at home and how he  _really_ did not want to do it when he remembered there were more pressing issues; Nico Di Angelo. One of his band mates had mentioned being at the merch table for the rest of the night, so he decided he would check there first, seeing as Nico had disappeared swiftly as soon as their set had ended and the stage crew had come out to set the stage up for the main band. Percy just hoped Nico hadn't shadow traveled away, he hadn't seen him in  _years_ , he didn't even think anyone had heard from him in years, and to be honest, he had kind of forgotten about the small teenaged boy he had left back at Camp Half-Blood.

Percy made his way over to the merch table where Nico's band had stationed themselves, selling tee shirts and posters, signing CDs for their fans, he spotted Nico lingering behind them all, half hidden in the shadows.

“Nico!” Percy called, Nico's head snapped up, glaring in Percy's direction when he heard his name called, the anger faded into a more startled expression when he recognized Percy and he shrank back into the shadows more. His eyes darting between Percy, picking his way through the crowd of people buying things, and the door, his body tensed and ready to flee at any moment.

“Nico, it's been like, forever, since we've seen each other, you can't run away just yet,” Percy smiled, offering his hand for Nico to shake, before pulling him into a hug, Percy decided that when you've fought evil Titans together you basically  _have_ to hug each time you reunite. Nico however, seemed to disagree, his posture was stiff as Percy hugged him, a slight blush had risen on his cheeks when Percy pulled away. Nico looked better now, his skin had gotten some of it's colour back, though there were still dark circles under his eyes, and he wasn't as thin as he used to be. The boy was still pretty thin, but he was healthy looking now, like he wasn't on the brink of starvation. Healthiness suited him. 

“Let's go outside, we have some catching up to do,” Percy suggested as the crowd started shouting, the next band taking their place on stage, he had to shout to be heard over the noise. Nico looked hesitant, but when Percy looked behind him as he stepped out the door Nico was right there beside him.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Nico asked awkwardly, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“I don't know, how have you been? What have you been doing? You know that kind of stuff, we haven't seen each other for a few years, if you hadn't noticed,” Percy said excitedly, it wasn't everyday he got to meet up with one of his old demigod friends, if Nico counted as a friend, there was that one time he betrayed him to Hades, but he had more than made up for that when he came to their rescue in Manhattan, so yeah, they were friends.

“Oh, well, I'm in a band, I don't spend much time in the Underworld anymore, and, if truth be told, I forget I'm a Demigod most of the time. It's nice. What about you? How's camp, and Annabeth and stuff?” Nico asked, brushing a hand through his hair.

“Camp's good, plenty of campers still there. I'm in college now, so that's cool. And me and Annabeth, well, we're both across the country, and don't spend much time together anymore, so we decided it was best if we went out separate ways, well, kind of separate, we still get together whenever we can, movie marathons and whatnot,” Percy explained, leaning against the wall beside Nico, who's face clouded over with a confusing expression when Percy mentioned his and Annabeth's breakup. There had been that rumor that Nico had been in love with Annabeth, so maybe that was it. “So, did you have anything to do with the band's name? Or is it just a coincidence that it's named after your father?”

“Actually that was their name before I joined, and technically, it's not even named after my father, it's named after a planet,” Nico explained with a bit of a smirk, pushing off of the wall and tilting his head back to look at the night sky.

“That last song there, was, wow, pretty literal with the last part I guess. Uh, sorry about that,” Percy offered, regretting bringing it up when Nico glared at him. Percy hoped Nico still didn't hate him for Bianca's death.

“Yeah, well, that's not really your fault is it?” Nico spat, staring at the ground.

“It's not your fault either,” Percy said, grabbing Nico's arm. Nico jumped back, looking at Percy startled.

“I don't like being touched,” Nico explained, biting his lip.

Percy looked sheepish, he smiled at Nico, not knowing how to continue their conversation, the silence stretched on, though it wasn't too awkward. Nico had never been very talkative, Percy hadn't expected that to change as he grew older. Nico glanced up, theirs eyes met, and for the briefest second, Percy expected Nico to disappeared into the shadows right in front of him, never to be heard from again. Instead Nico stepped forward, crushing their lips together, Percy stumbled back, surprised, his back hitting the brick wall of the bar behind his, he felt Nico pulling away, but he didn't want that, instead he wrapped one hand around Nico's waist, the other pulling his head in closer, deepening the kiss.

The door to the bar opened, one of Nico's band mates walked out, calling his name, and the two of them sprung apart, breathing hard and blushing. Nico's band mate told him they were packing up before darting back into the bar, blushing hard.

“That was, uh, wow,” Nico said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yes, very wow,” Percy agreed nodding, and then grabbing the marker that Nico had tucked into the back pocket of his jeans for signing. He grabbed Nico's arm and uncapped the marker. “Uh, here's my phone number, call me sometime and we can hang out, maybe you could come see the others sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Nico agreed, examining the phone number hastily scrawled on his arm. “Well, I have to go, the guys will be waiting for me, so, yeah, nice seeing you again. I will text you, yeah.”

Nico turned and stumbled back inside, almost tripping over the doorstep, turning to wave before letting the door close behind him, leaving Percy outside to think about what just happened, the taste of Nico still on his lips.

 


End file.
